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Real Estate Law

What “Deed” You Say To Me? Watch What You’re Conveyin’

by Tracy Royce May 23, 2013

There’s a lot of talk in the investor world about “Getting the deed.” But when you’re purchasing a property or transferring ownership, how does all that title speak come into how you structure the deal? Disclaimer: I’m in Arizona, so some of these specifics may be a little different in your neck of the woods. [...]

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Real Estate Law

Tenant Screening: Avoiding Discrimination Lawsuits

by Kevin Perk October 29, 2012

Last week I discussed the importance of screening tenants. I noted that tenant screening was perhaps the key to being a successful landlord. This week I want to follow up on that article by discussing methods to screen your prospective tenants to avoid a discrimination lawsuit. What is discrimination? A quick Google search defines discrimination [...]

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Real Estate Law

What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property?

by Sharon Vornholt October 9, 2012

There has been so much discussion on BiggerPockets about whether or not you should allow pets in your rental property. This is also a topic that comes up frequently at our REIA group. Some folks feel very strongly (like I once did) that they always end up damaging the property, so they just don’t allow [...]

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Real Estate Law

Ground Leases 101: A Financing Alternative

by Treasa Burke October 5, 2012

Despite the relative return of liquidity in the credit markets, many real estate owners and developers are still facing an uphill battle to obtain sufficient funding for their projects. One way to move that project from the drawing board to the construction site is eliminate the high property acquisition costs and turn to ground leasing [...]

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Real Estate Law

Avoid Mortgage Fraud: Don’t Let Your Buyers Request Land You in Trouble

by Ken Corsini September 19, 2012

It still amazes me how many people think it’s okay to skirt the “rules” when it comes to selling real estate. I am in the process of selling a property I bought and rehabbed over the last few months. Most of my properties are sold directly to investors as turn-key rentals, but this particular one [...]

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Real Estate Law

Commonly Overlooked Lease Issues: Third Party Rights

by Treasa Burke June 26, 2012

This series is devoted to highlighting those often neglected lease provisions and prevailing on our landlord readers to give them a second look when crafting their contracts. Last month, we looked at the benefits of affirmatively addressing the, dare I say, not uncommon occurrence of a landlord default on their lease obligations and potential tenant [...]

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Real Estate Law

What’s in a [Deed] Name? An Exploration of Deeds and Warranties

by Treasa Burke January 8, 2012

Deed type is often a neglected negotiation point in transactional real estate, somewhere far after purchase price and the target closing date, but slightly before whether email notification is acceptable. But the type of deed you receive from your seller can provide meaningful and long-lasting peace of mind (or angst) about the quality of title [...]

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Real Estate Law

Note Investing & Usury Laws: Don’t Get Bit By A Loan Shark!

by Kevin Kaczmarek September 7, 2011

As with so many of my blog posts, I like sharing some of my actual experiences with you because I believe experience is the best teacher. This one is an important reminder about the fact that note investing requires some serious due diligence before you jump in. Usury Laws! The term just rolls off the [...]

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Real Estate Law

Be Careful When Using A Quit Claim Deed

by Ken Corsini July 8, 2011

Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about the importance of buying title insurance for investment properties. Most people don’t think they’ll ever actually make a claim on a title policy, but the chances may be higher than most people realize. I’ve actually had to file 3 title claims just this year and as a [...]

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Real Estate Law

Florida Brings About (Not Enough) Change to its LLC Statute

by Clint Coons May 14, 2011

Last Summer the Florida Supreme Court created a legal Tsunami that washed over the legal community when it handed down it’s opinion in Olmstead v. FTC. In that case, the FTC had obtained a judgment for more than $10 million against Olmstead for operating a credit card scam. The FTC obtained an order requiring the [...]

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Real Estate Law

Important Considerations for Real Estate Contract Assignments

by Clint Coons February 18, 2011

Last week’s post focused on Finder Fees as part of an overall wholesaling strategy. Another component to this strategy involves securing a property under contract then assigning the rights of that contact to another investor. Sounds simple enough and it is provided you structure it the right way from the outset. Assignability. This is by [...]

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Real Estate Law

FTC’s Mortgage Assistance Relief Services: MARS Rule & Short Sales

by Bill & Jackie Patterson February 14, 2011

In the mid 90′s there was a lot of talk about a popular book called “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus”, and it was the topic of many talk shows and conversations. Today, we’re talking about MARS again bit in a different context. Regardless of what planet you’re from, when it comes to [...]

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Real Estate Law

How Can I Make Sure my Real Estate Contract is Legal?

by Jason Hanson February 13, 2011

“How do I know if the contracts I bought from (insert guru’s name here) are legal in my state?” The above question is one I get often and in my opinion it’s an extremely important one to answer. You see, there are many places you can skimp and be cheap in life and business. For example, [...]

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Real Estate Law

Finder’s Fee in Real Estate Investing – Is it Legal?

by Clint Coons February 10, 2011

This week I received an inquiry from a real estate investor so fresh from an investment seminar that I could feel the weight of the credit card debt he racked during the event. The investor, like a gladiator looking to win his freedom with one last fight, was ready to tackle wholesaling property and make [...]

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Real Estate Law

The IRS Has its Eye on “S” Corporations

by Clint Coons January 27, 2011

I have gathered from several responses to my prior post on “C” corporations versus “S” corporations that many active real estate investors prefer the “S” status. The reasons cited for “S” status are flow through tax treatment, i.e., you do not have a separate taxable entity to contend with, and employment tax minimization. For many [...]

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